Tuesday, March 31, 2015, 3:48 p.m.

Interior Department ends federal 'Blueway' program

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A U.S. Interior Department program intended to recognize conservation efforts along the nation's waterways was dissolved Friday amid opposition from landowners and politicians who feared it would lead to increased regulations and possible land seizures.

The National Blueways System was created in May 2012 as part of President Barack Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative. The program was voluntary, didn't include any new regulations, and a designation — bestowed on only two rivers, one of which was dropped last year because of local opposition — brought no additional funding or federal protections.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said that after a departmental review, her agency decided to disband the program.

"The National Blueways Committee will be deactivated, but the department will continue to encourage collaborative, community-based watershed partnerships that support sustainable and healthy water supplies," department spokesman Jessica Kershaw said.

Jewell put the program on hold in July, two weeks after removing the designation from the White River, which spans more than 700 miles through Missouri and Arkansas. The only other National Blueway waterway — the Connecticut River, which runs through Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire — will retain the designation, Jewell said Friday.